Murder Capital // Edgar Frog

Welcome To Santa Carla

"Keep going," Sam sighed from the passenger seat. Zoe rolled her eyes as she groaned in her head, although her annoyance was still clear to the rest of her family as she slammed her head against the car window in the back. Her older brother Michael gave her an amused smirk but Zoe new he was as bored as she was. Nanook, Sam and her's shared husky, looked at her as he huffed with his tongue stuck out causing Zoe to smile slightly.

"I like that song," their mother whined but changed the station anyway. Instead of a song, it was an add.

"Keep going mum," Zoe grumbled and the station changed again.

"Oooooh, how about this?" Mrs Emerson, Lucy, looked at her three children but stopped when she saw their bored expression and changed it some more. Skipping a few more times and she let a song ring out but was shut down by Michael.

"Pretty cool mum, you know, you wanna switch the dial?"

"Yeah," the twins mumbled.

"Gosh you guys are rough," Lucy laughed. She changed it once more and it landed on a particular song.

"Pretty mellow," Mikey commented and Zoe hummed but when their mother started to sing along, they changed their minds.

"Keep going," all three chorused.

"OOOoooh, wait..." Lucy shouted over them, "...that's from my era". Before anything else was said, she began to sing again.

"GROOVING ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON!" the siblings all looked at each other again.

"KEEP GOING!"

"Okay, okay," and another station was skipped. Lucy looked further ahead of them to see a billboard that read, 'Welcome To Santa Carla'.

"Look we're almost their," Everyone looked at the scenery. From what Zoe could see, their was a beach with a massive boardwalk and a few people walking around as they drove closer to the sign. Sam took a sniff of their air but grimaced.

"Mum, what's that smell?" Zoe wound her window down and took a sniff for herself but coughed. She wound the window up and began scratching and squishing her nose around, trying to get the smell out. Her mother also took a whiff but she gave a pleasured sigh.

"That's the ocean air,"

"Smells like someone died," Sam responded. Zoe and Michael looked out the window as they drove past the sign but frowned when they saw more writing on the back. In red spray paint someone had written, 'Murder Capital of the World'. As they continued to drive, Zoe and Michael looked at each other weirdly but decided to ignore it. Neither spoke a word.

When they got further into town, Zoe couldn't help but perk up. Not just because of the place, but the people too. You had your classic tourists wearing floral shirts and beige shorts, punks with mow-hawks, coloured hair and piercings, girls with unique eyeliner patterns, scruffy people, clean people, hippies, people wearing bathers,lots of leather jackets and metal accessories. She deflated a little when she noticed a few information boards. They were all covered in missing persons fliers.

The car stopped in front a few shops as her mother decided she wanted to buy some food before getting to her father's house.

"Hey mum! Can I go walk around?" Sam grinned and Lucy couldn't help but smile.

"Sure but take Nanook with you, he needs a bit of a stretch too," Sam cheered and fist pumped before jumping out and going to Nanook's side of the car.

"Hey, I'm coming too!" Zoe cried out before jumping out. Sam held Nanook by his leash as they walked. Zoe had a small smile on her face as they did. Suddenly, she began to grin and a spark grew within her. She latched onto Sam's shoulder and began to shake it as she pointed towards the beach.

"What?"

"THERE'S AN AMUSEMENT PARK!" she began jumping on the spot and Nanook barked along with her, wagging his fluffy tail. Sam looked at where she had been pointing before gasping excitedly and looking at his twin. They grinned at each other before bolting back to their car.

Pushing past a few people, the two finally reached the car and saw their mum standing their.

"MUM?! MUM?!" Zoe screamed and Lucy turned to look at them.

"Mum, mum, there's an amusement park right along the beach," She turned away from them and grabbed some money from her purse.

"Sam can you tell those two to get something to eat," she nodded towards a couple of kids who were currently scabbing through the garbage. Zoe looked at Michael who was standing near their trailer.

"Are their any jobs around here?" he asked a man.

"Nothing legal," Mike nodded before pulling his dirt-bike from their trailer.

"You riding that the rest of the way?" Zoe asked and Mike smiled.

"Can I go on it with you?" Zoe slyly asked but her mother butted in.

"Zoe you don't have a helmet," Zoe through her hands up.

"Neither does he!"